UK to Put Higher Emphasis on Cybercrime Prevention

The UK is to develop a new emergency response unit to help give individuals and companies instant advice when their computer systems and networks come under sustained attack, according to an article from The Guardian.

The proposal is one of several announced by the Cabinet Office, now when the government says threats from cyberspace should be given tier-one priority. The Ministry of Defence is also planning to develop a “cyber reserve” of specialists from the private sector to give the military some backup, the article says.

However, cyber experts say the government is spending too much on developing sophisticated “top-end” cyber knowhow instead of informing the public about how to make their computers less vulnerable.

The following is an excerpt from The Guardian’s article:

In 2010, the coalition pledged £650m to develop new cyber systems over four years, but less than £400,000 is to be spent on the Get Safe Online project, which offers basic advice about computer security.

Iain Lobban, the director of the eavesdropping and electronic spy centre GCHQ, in Cheltenham, has said 80% of attacks could be thwarted if individuals took more care.

"You could take £1m out of the budget of GCHQ and they wouldn't notice," said Professor Peter Sommer. "That kind of money would have a transforming effect. While much of the government's work is well thought out, they still underestimate the extent to which some breaches are the fault of humans and not the result of external cyber criminals and spies.

"They also underplay the need to educate consumers and small businesses, both to protect themselves and to stop their machines being taken over as part of botnets, which then attack others. Out of the total cybersecurity budget, less the £400,000 goes to the main public information service, GetSafeOnline. That is less than 0.1%."

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Not all employees are saboteurs or malicious actors, but without education, unwitting employees could cause just as much damage as a targeted data theft in the long run. Read how to prevent this in the August 2015 issue of Security. Also read how building stronger relationships with local and national law enforcement can aid in school security awareness and response, learn about the dangers of continuing to use old credit card terminals, and see the ASIS International 2015 product review.